BLAME’s multiple graded stakes winner Officiating added a fourth stakes win to his resume on Saturday with a victory in the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap (G3).
The Saffie Joseph Jr. trainee raced a few lengths off the leader in third for much of the 1 1/8 mile dirt race as the pair in front of him battled it out for the lead. It wasn’t until the quarter pole that Officiating got involved, asked to move closer and doing so willingly.
Javier Castellano pushed the colt to give him just a little more down the stretch and that’s exactly what Officiating did, grabbing the lead in deep stretch to win by 1 ¼ lengths.
It’s the fifth win in 19 starts for the 4-year-old, who also has eight other top three finishes in 19 starts for $534,097 in earnings.
A homebred for Vegso Racing Stable, Officiating is a half-brother to Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Caledonia Road and to stakes winning One of a Kind. He also hails from the family of Grade 1 winners Hymn Book and Data Link.
BLAME is the sire of three winners and nine stakes performers overall in 2022.